Michael Watts, Vice President

Michael Watts is a “been there, done that” veteran of the telecommunications industry.  He was one of the first five technicians to start installing fiber optics for Verizon’s Fiber to the Premise (FTTP).  He later led splicing efforts in the initial Maryland Fiber to the Premise roll-out and chaired cross-functional teams to develop best practices, methods and procedures that are in place today as working guidelines.  Then he teamed up with Eric Welty to implement the first enterprise PON for a Federal Intel customer.

Along the way, Watts worked with other companies and vendors to develop the technology that is now known as passive optical LAN.

“I’ve been an OPS guy my whole career,” recalled Watts during a recent interview.  “I bring real-world experience and ‘OJT’ to Noovis.  This is a good fit for me.  The people here share my philosophy that if you’re not going to do it right there is no sense in doing it.”

His street experience gives him instant credibility with industry partners.  That credibility helps close sales, according to his colleague, Tom Napoli.

“We’ve been fighting for eight years to get industry acceptance of enterprise PON.  It’s finally happening.  It’s no longer bleeding edge; it’s leading edge.  The tough thing about this industry, though, is that a fiber network’s overall benefits are transparent to the typical end user.   CTOs and CIOs, on the other hand, appreciate the inherent benefits that a fiber LAN will bring,” Watts explained.

“Erickson Living is a tipping point.  I honestly believe that GPON is a game-changing technology that will rewrite how networks will be deployed,” predicted Watts. “And with our employees and our knowledge base, Noovis is uniquely positioned to maintain its leadership position in this space.”

Over the next few years when Noovis completes the deployment currently underway at Erickson Living, it will have installed the largest enterprise GPON in North America.

Not willing to rest on his laurels, Watts always has an eye on the future.  “Multiple electronic vendors will be going to a 10-Gig ONT in the very near future and one benefit of single-mode fiber networks is their ability to support that upgrade.  With the growing bandwidth we are being asked to support, such as HD video, wireless networks and high-speed data transfers, the PON infrastructure will be able to handle the load,” said Watts.